Happy Monday

My Weakness

When General Lee came up the road toward Gettysburg, there was a German lady named Hannah, who tried to protect her town. She grabbed a broom and stood in the middle of the road to block the Southern Army. With smiles the Confederates gently moved her to the side.

Years later, Hannah explained, "I didn't think I could do anything, but I wanted them to know what side I was on."

Last month, up around Anchorage, Alaska, an 85-year-old lady, Dorothea Murphy showed the world whose side she was on.

Taking his golden retrievers with him, her husband, a retired bush pilot, had gone out for a walk. He hadn't gone far before the dogs alerted, and he spotted a moose. At the same time the moose spotted him.

The husband, George, dove into a snow bank for protection. It didn't help much. The moose started to stomp him.

That's when 97-pound, 5-foot-tall Dorothea went into action. She grabbed a grain shovel and started to hit the moose. She hit the moose in the body and in the head, and the moose beat a retreat.

Understand, hitting a moose with a shovel is not a recommended practice in Alaska -- or anywhere else. Even so, Dorothea felt she had to show whose side she was on.

It was sort of like Moses at Pharaoh's court, King David standing before the giant Goliath or the apostles taking their first steps to bring the story of the Savior's salvation to the Roman world.

Each of these had to show whose side they were on.

I guess anyone who has really seen the commitment and compassion, the surrender and the sacrifice of the Savior cannot remain unmoved. That's why when the chips are down and a challenge presents itself, the Holy Spirit empowers us to action -- to do what is necessary so we might show whose side we are on.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, You have told us to take a stand for the Saviors who gave His life, so we might be forgiven and saved. There are times when taking that stand can be mighty intimidating. At such moments, replace our fear with a desire to show the world whose side we are on. This I pray in my Savior's Name. Amen.

Pastor Ken Klaus
Lutheran Hour Ministries

Daily Smile:

An engineer dies and reports to the pearly gates. St. Peter checks his dossier and says, "Ah, you're an engineer — you're in the wrong place." So the engineer reports to the gates of hell and is let in. Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, they've got air conditioning, flush toilets and escalators, and the engineer is becoming a pretty popular guy. One day God calls Satan up on the telephone and asks with a sneer, "So, how's it going down there in hell?" 

Satan replies, "Hey, things are going great. We've got air conditioning, flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next."

God replies, "What??? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake — he should never have gotten down there; send him up here." 

Satan says, "No way! I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him." 

God says, "Send him back up here or I'll sue." 

Satan laughs uproariously and answers, "Yeah right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"